Austria (Bureau report)
Austria, the government presented new measures on Thursday evening due to the increasing number of CoV infections. In future, access to the night catering will only be possible for vaccinated persons or with a valid PCR test. Guest registration is also retained. In the future, the “Green Pass” will only be available after full immunization. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) emphasized in the ZIB2 that one had to react early because of increasing numbers. The tightening consists specifically of three points: From July 22nd, access to night-time catering will be restricted, instead of the “3-G rule”, entry will only be permitted for a maximum 72-hour-old, negative PCR test or a vaccination. In future, the “Green Passport” will only be issued when the second vaccination has been completed and one is therefore considered fully immunized. The certificate is issued from the day of the second vaccination. After all, the registration obligation at events and in the catering trade remains in effect, contrary to the original plans. The new measures are the result of the deliberations of the coronavirus task force, which met on Thursday morning. During the day, the Ministry of Health said that details were still being worked on – it was expected that an agreement would only be reached in the next few days. In the evening, however, there was a joint broadcast by Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) and Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP), who announced the agreement. Mückstein said that the spread of the Delta variant was cause for concern for him and a clear mandate to act. The Minister of Health was pleased about the quick communication and appealed especially to young people to accept the vaccination offer. Köstinger said that they do not want to withdraw opening steps: “Therefore, we are now taking precautions in those areas from which we notice an increasing development of infection.
The minister confirmed that on July 22nd, the mask requirement in “public transport” and supermarkets would remain in place, but would otherwise be dropped in retail. Compulsory vaccination for teaching staff is currently not up for debate. Mückstein also announced that he was in talks with the federal states to expand the possibilities for PCR tests, as is the case in Vienna. Mückstein also sent a letter to the state health officers on Thursday with the request to provide additional vaccination options for young people: Mobile vaccination boxes, focus areas in communities with low vaccination rates and offers at popular meeting places are recommended by the head of department. From the minister’s point of view, speed is necessary, because the experts said “that the window of time we have left to keep the pandemic in check with milder means is beginning to close,” the letter said. The push for stricter measures was based on an initiative by the health department. In one of the papers available to the APA in the morning, there was talk of a current “very worrying scenario”. It was stated that the increase in the numbers was recently underestimated. If this continues, “we will find ourselves in a threatening scenario in the foreseeable future”. The main reasons for the increase are the opening steps and easing of July 1, such as the opening of night restaurants, the dominance of the delta variant, which should already account for around 90 percent of cases, and travel-related cases.
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